Neg.

brief – Environmental impact statements (Good)

Table of Contents
1. EIS is need to find the “preferred” route
2. EIS makes complex government releases into “clear, concise, easy to read”
3. EIS is needed for projects (example = Wind energy development program)
4. The EIS helps 1st circuit courts make decisions
5. Courts found the EIS’s info “necessary”
6. EIS allows the public to know what’s going on
7. Only major Actions need EIS’s
8. EIS makes sure agency’s don’t hurt the environment and humans
9. No proof of time delays or costs
10. EIS makes changes in the past to fix its self
11. EIS get the public involved (and have stopped bad projects from happening)

1. EIS is need to find the “preferred” route “NEPA

Documentation” Department of Transportation, April 3, 2010 http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/projdev/docueis.asp

The NOI is published in the Federal Register by the lead Federal agency and signals the initiation of the process. Scoping, an open
process involving the public and other Federal, state and local, agencies, commences immediately to identify the major and important
issues for consideration during the study. Public involvement and agency coordination continues throughout the entire
process. The draft EIS provides a detailed description of the proposal, the purpose and need, reasonable alternatives, the affected
environment, and presents analysis of the anticipated beneficial and adverse environmental effects of the alternatives. Following a
formal comment period and receipt of comments from the public and other agencies, the FEIS will be developed and issued. The FEIS
will address the comments on the draft and identify, based on analysis and comments, the "preferred alternative".
Impact: You could also use this to say an EIS is just like an Aff plan; it’s the same as the Aff research done on their own plan to find
advantages. Would you enact the aff plan if they did no research? No! so why let the EPA make plans with no research.

2. EIS makes complex government releases into “clear, concise, easy to read” “EIS:
Digests of Environmental Impact Statements” Cambridge Information Group, 2009 http://www.csa.com/factsheets/eis-set-c.php

The federal government issues hundreds of environmental impact statements each year - and this one resource provides detailed
abstracts of all of those statements, also indexing them for easy reference. EIS extracts the key issues from complex government-
released environmental impact statements, converting massive documents into concise, readable abstracts. Each entry includes a clear
description of the project, sections on positive impact and negative consequences, and legal mandates.

Cambridge Information Group (CIG) is a family owned management and investment firm, primarily focused on education, research
and information services companies. CIG provides strategic direction, financial planning and oversight of these operating units. CIG
is led by a world-class executive team with a proven track record. Under this leadership

3. EIS is needed for projects (example = Wind energy development program)

“Why the Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS Is Needed” Department of the Interior, Wind Energy Development
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement April 3, 2010 http://windeis.anl.gov/eis/why/index.cfm

A Programmatic EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of broad agency actions, such as the setting of national policies or the
development of programs. Because BLM's efforts to evaluate additional wind energy development on public lands include the
amendment of BLM land use plans and establishment of a Wind Energy Development Program, a Programmatic EIS is appropriate.

4. The EIS helps 1st circuit courts make decisions “Landfill

EIS declared satisfactory” Gordon Y.K. Pang March 31, 2010 The Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu’s Newspaper) & The Gannett
Foundation http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100331/NEWS04/3310349/Landfill+EIS+declared+satisfactory

The Land Use Commission in November approved a three-year expansion for the landfill. The final EIS is still important because the
city itself has filed an appeal with the 1st Circuit Court asking the LUC decision for three years be reconsidered for a longer period.

5. Courts found the EIS’s info “necessary”

“Landfill EIS declared satisfactory” Gordon Y.K. Pang March 31, 2010 The Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu’s Newspaper) & The
Gannett Foundation http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100331/NEWS04/3310349/Landfill+EIS+declared+satisfactory
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"I'm pleased the Court determined that the (final EIS) was compiled in good faith, meets all legal requirements, and provided decision-
makers with all information necessary to decide that the landfill should be expanded," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said in a release.

6. EIS allows the public to know what’s going on

“Environmental Impact Statements” Joe E. Heimlich Mitchell Smith Ohio State University March
16th 2010 http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/0188.html

Whenever projects or programs are planned, there are potential impacts upon the environment. When these proposed projects are
federally funded, such impacts become important to the public. What these impacts may be and the magnitude of their effect are
reported in Environmental Impact Statements. This fact sheet addresses both the purpose and the limitations of these written public
documents.

7. Only major Actions need EIS’s “Why

the Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS Is Needed” Department of the Interior, Wind Energy Development Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement April 3, 2010 http://windeis.anl.gov/eis/why/index.cfm

Federal laws and regulations require the federal government to evaluate the effects of its actions on the environment and to consider
alternative courses of action. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) specifies when an environmental impact
statement (EIS) must be prepared. NEPA requires that an EIS be prepared for major federal actions with potential for significant
impact on the quality of the human environment. The BLM has determined that amending land use plans and the establishment of a
Wind Energy Development Program would be major federal actions as defined by the NEPA, and, thus, the BLM has prepared an
EIS.

8. EIS makes sure agency’s don’t hurt the environment and humans
“Why the Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS Is Needed” Department of the Interior, Wind Energy Development
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement April 3, 2010 http://windeis.anl.gov/eis/why/index.cfm

Federal laws and regulations require the federal government to evaluate the effects of its actions on the environment and to consider
alternative courses of action. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) specifies when an environmental impact
statement (EIS) must be prepared. NEPA requires that an EIS be prepared for major federal actions with potential for significant
impact on the quality of the human environment. The BLM has determined that amending land use plans and the establishment of a
Wind Energy Development Program would be major federal actions as defined by the NEPA, and, thus, the BLM has prepared an
EIS.

9. No proof of time delays or costs

Sander, Thomas. (Exec. Director of the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America) Environmental Impact Statements and
Their Lessons for Social Capital Analysis. Harvard Kennedy University, 1999. Web. 13 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/pdfs/sandereisandsklessons.pdf>.

Critics of the impact statement process believe that the cost of preparing EISs make this an economically inefficient policy.
Nevertheless, detailed studies show that EISs do not require an overwhelming workload for federal agencies (CEQ, 1971-85). In
addition, “[t]he process has not incited a large volume of litigation-delaying administrative determinations and obstruct[ed] federal
projects (Liroff, 1981; Wenner, 1982; CEQ, 1985: 162-65)” [Lester, Environmental Politics and Policy 1995:213] Serge Taylor in
Making Bureaucracies Think found that EISs have resulted in litigation in only about 10% of cases, and only some 10% of those
litigated cases (1% of all EISs) caused serious delay in major projects. As to whether this cost is justified, Caldwell has commented
that the EIS process is justified by the environmentally unwise projects that have been avoided, but no quantitative study of this
appears to have been done.

10. EIS makes changes in the past to fix its self

Williamson, Abby. (Fellow, Research Associate at Taubman Center for State and Local Government) Social Capital Impact
Assessment: Revealing the Value in Social Networks. Harvard Kennedy University, 22 May 2002. Web. 13 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/pdfs/scimpactanalysiswilliamson.pdf>.

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The EIS also intends to channel public involvement in a way that avoids delays. In response to mounting pressure from the
conservationist movement, Congress developed and passed NEPA legislation in the course of a year. The resulting process allows for
structured public comment, as well as judicial review of compliance.

11. EIS get the public involved (and have stopped bad projects from happening)
Williamson, Abby. (Fellow, Research Associate at Taubman Center for State and Local Government)Social Capital Impact
Assessment: Revealing the Value in Social Networks. Harvard Kennedy University, 22 May 2002. Web. 13 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/pdfs/scimpactanalysiswilliamson.pdf>.

Despite these challenges, the EIS and the World Bank SA appear to have achieved some important goals. Most clearly, the statements
have raised awareness about the importance of the environment and social issues, respectively. Although public participation is not
always used effectively, each impact statement has increased public access to information and offered mechanisms for involvement.
The degree to which the statements have improved environmental preservation or social outcomes is not entirely clear due to
incomplete or absent monitoring. It is possible, though unproven, that the prospect of crafting an impact statement may have halted
some particularly damaging projects before they were even proposed.

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